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Join us for a Private CountryClubuk Champagne Continental Breakfast Visit to view French super yacht Ponant Le Champlain on the River Thames at London Bridge: the date is Sunday, April 24, 2022: successful event concluded
Mar
You are invited to enjoy a complimentary visit to the state-of-the-art cruise yacht Ponant Le Champlain when she arrives at London Bridge on Sunday, April 24, 2022, and light Continental breakfast canapés will be served with Champagne. Event concluded.
Sleek, stylish, ‘eye-sweet’, Le Champlain will be in London during her voyage from Lisbon to Stockholm—so if you are in or near London on that day, and you are interested in having a private morning tour of this amazing vessel—she is just like a private yacht!—you are warmly invited to be one of our guests at this private event. Numbers are limited to 20, so please don’t delay!
Of course Ponant—which includes sailing yachts as well as state-of-the-art new cruise yachts in its fleet and was founded by officers from the French merchant navy—are keen to show off this exceptional cruise yacht. The second in their Explorer class, built in Norway’s Vard shipyard and launched in 2018, she is named after Samuel de Champlain, ‘The Father of New France’. Many of our Members are joining her and her sister ships for cruises (for which you enjoy advantageous Club rates). This visit allows all who are about to cruise, or are considering a cruise—or simply enjoy seeing the inside workings of a vessel with all the features of a private yacht—to feast their eyes on her.
Featuring innovative and environmentally-friendly equipment, elegantly designed staterooms, spacious suites with large windows and private balconies, and lounge areas which open on to the outside, this new limited-capacity yacht boasting just 92 staterooms and suites offers a unique cruising experience.
Ponant’s Explorer class is designed to give an intimate cruise, with the ability to explore an ever-increasing range of destinations—these cruise yachts can go where the bigger cruise ships are unable to dock, adding unusual and interesting destinations to cruise itineraries. And because she takes only 184 passengers, boarding and disembarking are quick and easy.
Le Champlain is subtle and stylish. Everything looks sophisticated rather than showy. Technically, she is also first rate. The hull has a length of 430ft, a beam of 59ft, a maximum draft of 15ft and gross tonnage of 9,976 UMS. She is a ‘green ship’, adopting advanced environmental protection systems and advanced technologies, powered by two 2,000KW electric motors. She has a cruising speed of 12.5 knots. It has a guest capacity of up to 184 passengers and a guest-to-staff ratio of just under one to one.
We shall tour the ship, visiting the bridge and speaking to the officers and crew. And as we shall also be enjoying a Continental Champagne Breakfast in the elegant main restaurant, we are delighted to say that the French cuisine and wines are excellent.
One highlight of this £120 million yacht is a world first—a ‘Blue Eye’ multi-sensory underwater lounge. Designed by Jacques Rougerie, a famous French architect who specialises in underwater habitats, the ‘cetacean-shaped eyes’—two oval windows below the water line on either side of the ship’s keel giving a whale’s-eye view into the water outside—are fascinating. Digital screens project images filmed live by three strategically placed underwater cameras. The natural symphony of the sea across a three-mile radius is transmitted into the lounge through hydrophones, a microphone designed to capture underwater sounds. Capping off the immersive experience, ‘Body Listening Sofas’ discreetly vibrate in unison with the streaming aquatic acoustics. Whatever we shall see and hear in the Thames, the idea becomes magical when you are in the crystalline waters of the Caribbean and South Seas!
We shall meet at 9am at Tower Pier on Sunday, April 24, before boarding Le Champlain at London Bridge, at 9.30am for a two-hour private CountryClubuk visit. Numbers are limited to 20, so please book your places now by calling Member Services on 020 7399 2960.